A Week Ago

A week ago I was celebrating my birthday

on the beaches of Florida ~ first Clearwater Beach

My toes were in the sand

The day was beautiful, sunny and 70 plus degrees

Evening, we enjoyed a birthday sunset at the

Indian Rocks Beach

My getaway partner and I had a wonderful

time ~ 

This was a first for me celebrating my 

birthday on a beach.

Had Some Melting

We had some melting.... 

We can see some black out in the fields, the

snowmobile trails turned slushy and then

froze again.... the snow was all removed from

our roof and the sidewalk melted off ready

for the next round.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Me! 

This was my First Birthday celebration ~ look

at that cake (looks like angel food cake with

yummy frosting) 

and that cutie one-year old has a birthday hat

on and is actually leaving it on. 

And look at my beautiful Momma!

Looks like it was quite a party with 

fancy stemware too - I bet some

enjoyed  wine.

This is my grandmother ~ what a fun lady
she was (I am not sure who the little person
is on the edge of the picture - maybe the
neighbor kids)

Another picture of the birthday girl ~ it looks

like she had quite a big gift to open there

in the background  (maybe

wrapped in Christmas paper)    :)

Winter Show - Valley City

We also got to the Valley City Winter Shows

a few times.  In 1983 my sister and I showed

in the gilt class (Grand and Reserve Champion)

In 2001, we took the kids and neighbor, Adam,

to the winter shows - they had changed the

name to "North Star Classic" it was the first year.

I remember the barns were cold even with the

heat from all of the animals and there were 

always so many cattle.

We would stay at place uptown and eat

breakfast at good ol' small town cafe.

Our daughter would have been 7 years old

and Lineman Son would have been 11 years old.

The winter shows of some kind were shared

by three generations actually four

generations if you counted my Grandpa Carl.

Winter Show - Crookston

This time of year brings back memories of 

the Winter Shows (livestock shows) ~ growing up

we annually went to the Crookston Winter Shows

in Northern Minnesota and to the Valley City

Winter Shows out in North Dakota.

The Crookston Winter Shows would find us off

a day of school and heading up "very early" where

Dad would already be with the show pigs.  Most

years it was very cold and the huge building

would be full of livestock.

I remember once or twice staying with Grandma

Arvilla and Grandpa Carl up there (either staying

or renting from a friend and sleeping

in the basement).

In later years, when I was in High School I 

remember submitting photos in their

photography contest ~ I don't recall being a winner

of any huge prize but getting some ribbons.

Before us kids were around this was Dad (on the left)

 at the Crookston Winter Shows in 1960 (later known

as the Red River Valley Winter Show).

I know that the winter shows celebrated their

75th Anniversary in 1985 (the year I graduated)

but I am not sure how much longer after that

they held shows.

I will be on the look out for more pictures.

Out On The Trails

 A Valentine's Day Ride ~ it was a little 

windy out in the open but otherwise a

great day for being on the trail.

We headed north ~ we don't go on these trails

often but it is good "destination riding".  We 

enjoyed a late lunch at Pinehurst, where there

were a few sleds in the parking lot (not like in

the past when we have been there though). 

Our next stop heading back was to be the

Elbow Store on Elbow Lake where part of the

crew would gas up.   Getting to Elbow Store

was a challenge we ended up in an area where

the maps and signs just didn't seem to help ~ 

then we ended up in a circle "really" - we tried

it again and realized it was happening again....

Finally it was noticed that a sign (name of 

street or trail) was not quite right... not sure 

if it was just us or if it had actually been

rearranged by someone at some point.

We did get to Elbow Lake Store before anybody

ran out of gas "thank goodness" ~ hmm this 

area could do much better with their signage.

And this certainly wasn't our first ride in that

area ~

A short visit and some hot chocolate and we

were back on the trails with no problems the

rest of the way.

It is always an adventure - this adventure

was 102 miles (a good day).

The weather is now suppose to get warm

for the next week - so we will see if there

will be another snowmobile ride this season.

Surprise!

Monday I traipsed through the snow

to the mailbox ~ I thought about having hubby

check it when he came home but then I

thought about the plow coming by and

"POOF" everything might be gone

At noon, I could still see the car tracks that

had left early in the morning but the drifts

were getting deeper.

There was a package in the  mail and I 

wasn't expecting a package... then I see that

the return address was a co-worker of mine.

SURPRISE!

Ahhh... my coworker is a dog lover, she has

two dogs and one is a mini-aussie.  We

quite often share aussie stories ~ they 

are a quirky breed.   :) 

Each Christmas she looks forward to my

traditional "dog greeting" picture.  

This year she had to ask me about it and

I hadn't gotten to it yet and was running

out of time.

What a nice gift in memory of Lenny from 

Leonard who recently passed away.   I have

to add that Lenny would have been following

me down to the mailbox jumping from one

footprint in the snow to the next  :) 

Office wall decor is always good!

Thank you friend!

Monday Again

And Monday came around again ~ work wise 

this was a pretty good Monday in comparison to

our last few which have been so busy you almost

don't get a chance to breath (sarcasm - a/k/a 

sometimes my voice gets tired of talking)

The windstorm or what some call a blizzard 

started late and/or stayed around longer

than they thought. 

It is still windy tonight ~ Monday by noon our

driveway was plugged.   The wind drifted in

all of the snow that had landed on the open land

north of us (it is all in our driveway) ~ we keep

talking about putting up a couple of snow fences

in our trees, better get that on the "to-do" list.

There was no way that Hubby was going to get

back in the driveway.

So the driveway was cleaned out

There was a car in the ditch - looks like they

went for a bit of a ride.

The neighbor on the other side of the lake that

owns a towing business was here to pull the

individual out.  (this was across the road 

from us)

I happened to catch the tow truck going by.

Hopefully the roads are better tomorrow.

Super Day

Sunday, Super Bowl Day ~ it was predicted

that we would be in a "blizzard watch".   We first

got rain during the night, by 3 a.m. it was turning to

snow and then by afternoon we had this...

bad roads

It was tax day at daughters ~ I have helped her

with her taxes the last couple of years.  I think she

has now got it all down - our prep time was just

today.  I can say I wish I had the software she

has - it is a daycare software and how handy

it is. 

When we got home ~ we stayed home.  The wind

was picking up and getting worse ~ the weather

is bad enough that the DOT has pulled the 

plows off of the roads. 

The wind will blow the bird seed all over so

it is *CLOSED* 

``````````````````

We recently made salmon ~ this would be

the first time we have made it.  I was 

surprised how easy it was from

unthawing to the finished meal.

It was given to us by one of our daughters'

neighbors - we seasoned it with salt and

pepper and will try it another way next time.

I have been working on the "to-do" cleaning,

spring cleaning and uncluttering list.   I did get

one of my Christmas presents unboxed and put

away, a beautiful set of silverware  :)   many 

thanks to my daughter-in-law and her hubby.

We just finished watching the Super Bowl ~ congrats

to all of the fans and to the Broncos!

Cleaning, Crafting & Updates

I have started some of my winter /spring

cleaning, it seems to be a slow process this

year ~ Opie has been helping with cleaning

out the cupboards.

Multi-tasking ~ some crafting (clipping a rag

quilt) while watching American Idol ~ there are

many talented singers this year (a tough job

for the Judges)

Our fields on February 3rd - not much for snow.

  

I have had reason to be on the road during

my lunch hour this week and have seen some of

the progress on the little local store. 

This grocery store had been sitting empty since

late summer - early fall.  Rumor is that it will

be a store again this spring.... 

The roof has been removed and today I went by

and all of the walls had been removed.

Lots of work.

The post office is in the east side of the building

and an attached home on the north side which

apparently are in good shape. 

I have missed having this little grocery store 

open for those quick items or a bite to eat at

the tiny deli  for a quick lunch - kids probably miss 

the ice cream and some probably miss 

buying the newspaper.